


some days I'll need your strength to hide behind

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: After this only fluff, Angst and Feels, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Reaction, Gen, He knew exactly what he was doing, I Don't Even Know, I'm about to rage quit this fandom, Maybe - Freeform, Post Order 66, Series Finale, The Author Regrets Everything, Victory and Death, and Dave filoni, except I knew what was coming, i have no one to blame but myself, look I just needed to get the feels out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24003817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tag to Victory and Death, 7.12 Series finale.They don’t talk much those first few days. They are both in shock.
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 7
Kudos: 129





	some days I'll need your strength to hide behind

**Author's Note:**

> _When everything was broken  
>  The devil hit his second stride  
> But you remember what I told you  
> Someday, I'll need your spine to hide behind  
> For fear of moments stolen  
> I don't wanna say goodnight  
> But I'll still see you in the morning  
> Still know your heart and still know both your eyes_  
> \- from Lost by Dermot Kennedy

They don’t talk much those first few days. They are both in shock.

For Rex each moment is filled with alternating waves of despair and rage. They crash into him like the storms on Kamino. The unrelenting torrents of rainfall used to shake the building the way he feels shaken to his core. It wasn’t enough that he was bred to die for a Republic he has never known. The family, the identity, the honor and purpose he’d carved out for himself had to be taken too.

He was always an orphan. Now he is also an only child.

For Ahsoka, there is the burn in the Force of nearly every Jedi in the galaxy just…gone. There is the vast emptiness in her mind where millions of unique pinpricks of light used to sparkle, her men, her brothers. Now there is now only a void. The Force still just _screams_.

During the day they are careful, respectful of each other’s need for distance, the right to grieve. They silently search the downed cruiser looking for men to bury (neither voices the hope that they may find survivors, hope is too sharp to touch right now) and supplies to scavenge.

At night, things change.

Rex builds them a fire just far enough from the cruiser that it’s hulking shadow is indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. They eat in silence. Sit in silence. But they stay close, pressed together side by side shoulder to knee. Both need to feel the heat of the other’s skin, know they are alive. They are _here_.

The first night, they don’t sleep. They sit staring silently into the darkness, wondering if morning will come. When dawn breaks across the lunar surface Ahsoka’s breath hitches once and Rex shudders. They are apart and then they are together, faces hidden, fingers digging, arms wrapped around shoulders pulling closer closer closer _please_. They don’t move again until the tears are spent and the shaking has subsided.

And then they resume the search.

The next night Rex falls asleep with his face pressed to Ahsoka’s stomach, arms wrapped around her waist. Her fingers keep up a constant, soothing rhythm through his hair the whole night through. She doesn’t sleep.

Eventually they complete their task. They pack up the Y-wing and leave. If their hearts are shredding apart as they break orbit, they can’t tell the difference.

They make no promises to each other. They don’t plan too far ahead. Everyday has one goal, survive until the next.

For now, that will have to be enough.


End file.
